I have been asking this question of a couple of other threads (also in illustrator), and I can’t seem to get anything to work over here. So, my fundamental question is: what is the best method to use the PC to trace over a bitmap – like I do using tracing paper on top of a printout of a bitmap? Which method lets you see your work as you proceed, allows you to hide the bitmap by some toggle somewhere, and doesn’t make "pie-sections" (whited out) of the curved lines you are creating during your tracings? Could it be that NO PRODUCT has worked this process out yet?
One method I have used, without much enthusiasm, is to take my bitmap, use thumbs plus to dim it considerably, and then use Pbrush (MSPaint) to load the dimmed bitmap, and then use line segments to trace over the bitmap. Two things make this approach not very useful – ONE, you cannot toggle the underlying bitmap as you go (so you can see your line art all by itself as you proceed with each new path), and TWO, you cannot used CURVED lines with MSPAINT, so you have to make an immensity of very small line segments and this is just to time-consuming and tiring on the eyes and mouse fingers. If mspaint had one extra layer that could be toggled, and if they allowed arcs along with straight lines, that would be all that one needed to do really good tracings. So, what product will serve here, photoshop? Is there a tutorial that will work this out for you?
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I have been asking this question of a couple of other threads (also in illustrator), and I can’t seem to get anything to work over here. So, my fundamental question is: what is the best method to use the PC to trace over a bitmap – like I do using tracing paper on top of a printout of a bitmap? Which method lets you see your work as you proceed, allows you to hide the bitmap by some toggle somewhere,
Maybe I am simple-minded, but I have a Gateway Tablet computer which lets me draw on the screen (which is a big Wacom, too). Create a layer, draw over the bitmap with the pen. I suppose you can hit an FKey to show/hide a layer but I just hit the winkey-eye.
When you draw over the bitmap with a pen, can you make MULTIPLE curfved line segments? I can do the same thing as long as I draw over my bitmap in one LONG CONTINUOUS curved-line-path? I need to be able to draw many many line-segments and have them all remain visible (and not suddenly disappear when I start a new line). Can you do that? If so, how do you END one line segment and begin another one so that your first line segment stays visible on the screen? llittleberry
When you draw over the bitmap with a pen, can you make MULTIPLE curfved line segments? I can do the same thing as long as I draw over my bitmap in one LONG CONTINUOUS curved-line-path? I need to be able to draw many many line-segments and have them all remain visible (and not suddenly disappear when I start a new line). Can you do that? If so, how do you END one line segment and begin another one so that your first line segment stays visible on the screen? llittleberry
Are you trying to paint over a picture? Or are you trying to turn a bitmap picture into a vector based drawing?
If you want to paint over a picture, buy Painter Essentials. You could do this with Photoshop too, but it doesn’t sound like you have that. Either lets you work on separate layers from what is under it.
If you want to turn bitmap lines into vector drawings, you want Adobe Illustrator with Streamline. CorelDraw would be much less expensive. BTW, I never found those automatic bitmap-to-vector tools to work very well. Then again, I haven’t tried them for a number of years.
If you have Photoshop, there are some techniques to turn a photo into something that looks like a drawing or painting. Well, with limited results. Check out this location:
Clyde, I am wanting to use the pen tool (or whichever tool would work best) to draw curved lines by hand over a bitmap. In effect, tracing a bitmap, and then saveing my tracing all by itself. I need curved lines to be able to best approximate the natural curved lines in the visible edges of the bitmap. Sometimes the bitmap edges are not visible enough for a PC software to detect, but the human eye can extrapolate a missing edge and trace over where it should be. That is why I am not really interested in any automatic tracing software – I want to do it manually with something like the pen tool. I can do ONE LINE, but, when I continue to the next curved line, the first one disappears, which is driving me nuts because I just don’t know why anyone would want that and why they programmed it that way. How do folks go about tracing over a bitmap to produce a line-art rendering of a bitmap – close to whay could be done with pen, printout of a bitmap, and tracig paper. I must be missing some big picture here because I would have thought this was all worked out already. Thanks for the link you provided, but, it didn’t speak to making line-art tracings. littlberry
wrote: : Clyde, I am wanting to use the pen tool (or whichever tool would work : best) to draw curved lines by hand over a bitmap. In effect, tracing a : bitmap, and then saveing my tracing all by itself. I need curved lines
We do this a lot with author-provided (poorly-drawn) maps, in ai. snippo…
: I am not interested in any automatic tracing software
Probably a good idea. I’ve never found autotracing to be satisfactory.
: I want to do it manually with something like the pen tool.
We use the pen tool in ai for tracing, unless it’s a simple shape that we can see all of it on the monitor without scrolling; then we use the pencil tool.
: I can do ONE LINE, but, : when I continue to the next curved line, the first one disappears,
This sounds like the behavior of the pencil tool, with which it is tricksy to add to a line without the original line disappearing. You need to be sure to re-draw over a couple of anchor points to add to the line.
Are you sure you are using the pen tool? Its icon is like an old-fashioned pen nib; the pencil tool looks like… um.. a pencil.
: which is driving me nuts because I just don’t know why anyone would : want that and why they programmed it that way. How do folks go about : tracing over a bitmap to produce a line-art rendering of a bitmap – : close to whay could be done with pen, printout of a bitmap, and tracig : paper.
If you use the pen tool with lots of little segments, at a high magnification, the result mimics the smooth curves of the pencil tool reasonably well. Pretty tedious, but with practice one can work quickly and neatly. Or, you could investigate using the Bezier nodes to curvify pen lines with fewer anchor points.
One trick is during tracing, make the stroke a bright color that shows up well against the bitmap. Makes it easier to see your work. Don’t forget to change it back to K (or whatever) when you print.
Oh, and you’ll want to make the bitmap non-printing in the "Options for Layer Foo" dialogue.
— Al B. Wesolowsky o NC: "This is MY kinda road!" Boston University o KE: "Wow, you really are Neal Cassady!" –Kid Eternity
I have been asking this question of a couple of other threads (also in illustrator), and I can’t seem to get anything to work over here. So, my fundamental question is: what is the best method to use the PC to trace over a bitmap – like I do using tracing paper on top of a printout of a bitmap? Which method lets you see your work as you proceed, allows you to hide the bitmap by some toggle somewhere, and doesn’t make "pie-sections" (whited out) of the curved lines you are creating during your tracings? Could it be that NO PRODUCT has worked this process out yet?
You need Illustrator.
Put the bitmap in one layer. Draw in another.
If you see "pie slices" of white, it is because you have instructed Illustrator to assign a white fill to your path. Tell it to fill your path with none, not white.
When you draw over the bitmap with a pen, can you make MULTIPLE curfved line segments? I can do the same thing as long as I draw over my bitmap in one LONG CONTINUOUS curved-line-path? I need to be able to draw many many line-segments and have them all remain visible (and not suddenly disappear when I start a new line). Can you do that? If so, how do you END one line segment and begin another one so that your first line segment stays visible on the screen?
In Photoshop, when you use the Pen tool, you should always have your fingers on the Control and Alt keys. These keys make the Pen tool perform different functions.
To begin a new pen path segment, hold down the Control key to change the Pen to the Selection tool, and click. Then release the key and begin drawing again.
To join two segments, click on the end point of one segment with the pen tool, then click on the end point of the other segment.
Thanks, Tacit, the ctrl-down-click-ctrl-up method worked as you say, and I am able to make multiple curved line segments. I AM getting the whitened "pie slices", and I don’t see anywhere to set the "fill" preference to "none". I double-clicked layer 2, I pulled down edit, I checked every place I could imagine looking for that option, but, it eludes me. They have it well-hidden from me. It may seem stupid to an experienced user, but, believe me, if you don’t know where something important like that is, it seems hidden away from you. Please advise me as to where I can set the "fill" color for layer 2 to "none". Thanks (I am also going to reply to your reply about photoshop, next) littleberry
Thanks, tacit, I tried the ctrl-down-click-ctrl-up method over here on photoshop also, but, even though it does indeed start a new curved line path, it stubbornly makes my previous curved line paths disappear. Did I do something wrong over here? How do you get photoshop to behave like Illustrator does in this procedure? I am thinking that Illustrator is probably better for doing line-art, but, somehow, I like photoshop better because it has so much more it can do – maybe I will find that I need both. Thanks, littleberry
I FOUNT IT! Well, Tacit, I finally did find the fill option – it is a teeny tiny itty bitty litte icon on the left hand side of the 2nd row of icons at the top, and the point-size for the type is so small (must be 2) that I actually couldn’t read it without using the magnifier. So, now, I think I can get practuve using the pen tool in Illustrator – looks like it might be fun. Is there a way to thinken the lines? Or does it always use what looks like a two pixel line thickness? Thanks, again. littleberry
I am trying BOTH photoshop AND illustrator. I tried what you were saying about ctrl-down-click-ctrl-up and it works as you say as long as I move the mouse AWAY from the last picked point (no problem there). But I AM getting the white "pie slices", and I can’t find any place to "tell Illustator to fill my path with none". Honestly, I tried all the pulldown, and double-clicking on layer 2, but, I don’t see that option anywhere. Please bear with me – it might seem stupid to an experienced user, but, I have no idea how to set that preference.
I have another reply for photoshop, next. Thanks, littlberrey
Thanks, Tacit, the ctrl-down-click-ctrl-up method worked as you say, and I am able to make multiple curved line segments. I AM getting the whitened "pie slices", and I don’t see anywhere to set the "fill" preference to "none".
In Photoshop CS2, click on the "Paths" icon, third from the left in the toolbar for the pen tool. — Mike Russell www.curvemeister.com
I have been asking this question of a couple of other threads (also in illustrator), and I can’t seem to get anything to work over here. So, my fundamental question is: what is the best method to use the PC to trace over a bitmap – like I do using tracing paper on top of a printout of a bitmap? Which method lets you see your work as you proceed, allows you to hide the bitmap by some toggle somewhere, and doesn’t make "pie-sections" (whited out) of the curved lines you are creating during your tracings? Could it be that NO PRODUCT has worked this process out yet?
One method I have used, without much enthusiasm, is to take my bitmap, use thumbs plus to dim it considerably, and then use Pbrush (MSPaint) to load the dimmed bitmap, and then use line segments to trace over the bitmap. Two things make this approach not very useful – ONE, you cannot toggle the underlying bitmap as you go (so you can see your line art all by itself as you proceed with each new path), and TWO, you cannot used CURVED lines with MSPAINT, so you have to make an immensity of very small line segments and this is just to time-consuming and tiring on the eyes and mouse fingers. If mspaint had one extra layer that could be toggled, and if they allowed arcs along with straight lines, that would be all that one needed to do really good tracings. So, what product will serve here, photoshop? Is there a tutorial that will work this out for you?
Well, I found the answer to this also. What I did was to select Paths and start my first curved line segment. When I end it (ctlr-click-ctlr), it remains visible as I continue with additional paths. I can also then click layers again and click create new layer, then I can toggle my background bitmap in and out of visibility, still being able to draw curved lines using the path tab. I can also dim the underlying bitmap by doubleclicking on the layer box and reducing the opacity to about 50%. This way, photoshop seems to work about as well as Illustrator – unless I am missing something I don’t know about yet. Thanks, littleberry
But I AM getting the white "pie slices", and I can’t find any place to "tell Illustator to fill my path with none".
You do this in the Color palette, or in the color swatches in the bottom of the Toolbar.
There are two ways to instruct Illustrator to fill a path with "none" instead of "white." The first way is to set your Fill color to None (a red line through the box) by clicking on the Fill color (the large solid sq uare at the bottom of the Toolbar) and then setting it to None by clicking on the red diagonal line below and to the right of the Fill/Stroke colors at the bottom of the Toolbar. The second is to use Window->Show Colors and choose the color None (white box with a red diagonal line through it) in the Color palette.
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